MCNY Library

A recent article in Forbes magazine suggested that Amazon replace Public Libraries. We librarians think that is bad for democracy. A library is one of the only public spaces left, open to anyone, that does not require you buy anything to enter. Libraries are built on the premise that everyone has the right to information, culture, and space to be human in. And libraries and librarians do more than just provide access to books, they work with the homeless, they help people to find jobs, work toward citizenship, and much more.
Read a response to the article https://bit.ly/2uVS2hy

"I’m a librarian. The last thing we need is Silicon Valley ‘disruption.’" A Forbes column arguing that Amazon should replace libraries grossly underestimates how many services libraries offer.

In May we are celebrating May Day and Worker's Rights with a special display about the history of the Labor Movement. Come by and check it out!

Hello MCNY! Welcome back! We hope that everyone's summer has gotten off to a super start. Come by the Learning Common's and meet with a librarian. You can even make an appointment https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSduh-TvVhsywZz-yPXwTwofYXOnEEwfg3j_o9lco-B4OTB66A/viewform
to discuss all sorts of things, including strategies for effective efficient research and all the special resources we have available to you here at MCNY,

Research Consultations- MCNY Library Not sure how to get started on a specific research question or assignment? Set up a Research Consultation with a librarian.

"When Henrietta Lacks was dying of cancer in 1951, her cells were harvested without her knowledge. They became crucial to scientific research and her story became a bestseller. Since then, Lacks has become one of the most powerful symbols for informed consent in the history of science."

Henrietta Lacks' Lasting Impact Detailed In New Portrait The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., has unveiled a portrait of Lacks, whose cells have been used for decades — without her consent — to find medical breakthroughs.

The Top 10 Challenged and Banned Books of 2017 has been released. This video discusses censorship in the US and reveals the top 10 list.

Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2017 Of the 416 books banned or challenged in 2017, here are the Top 10 Most Challenged. The annual list is compiled by the American Library Association's Office ...

MCNY 4th Annual Poetry Slam! 4/11/18. 4:30pm. (MNHT Campus) Sign up today in the library. Share your rhymes and your voice. Or just join us and celebrate one another and the healing power of poetry.

Martin Luther King was assassinated 50 years ago, on April 4th 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.He had come to Memphis to march in solidarity with the sanitation strikers scheduled to take place on April 8th..

King's widow, Coretta Scott King, together with the couple's four small children, led a crowd on April 8th. An estimated at 40,000 in a silent march through the streets of Memphis to honor the fallen leader and support the cause of the city's black sanitation workers.

Among the many lessons to be to drawn from King's profound legacy is his attention to the material conditions of people's lives, to the policies and practices that create the conditions of injustice. In addition to broad calls for racial harmony, he focused on poverty, on desegregation in housing and in schools, and on the importance and police accountability.

This is a time to remember the profundity of Dr. King's work, the violence of his loss, the aspirations of his legacy and the long, hard, precise work to, as he (sort of) said, bend the long arch of the moral universe toward justice.

Peace

- The MCNY Library

Time to select this year's book for One Book, One New York! http://www1.nyc.gov/site/mome/initiatives/1book1ny.page

One Book, One New York

Share your voice and your poetry! MCNY's 4th Annual Poetry Slam stop by the library to sign up to read today! And tell all your poet friends, they are welcome to!
April 11th|4:30pm|Community Commons|60 West Street

Today (3/28) see Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart.s the first-ever black woman to author a play performed on Broadway, she did not shy away from richly drawn characters and unprecedented subject matter. But Hansberry was also an activist who fought for social justice, a radical intellectual and fascinating woman!
Community Commons
Manhattan
4:30pm

Helpful advice in case you want to continue using Facebook. https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/20/17140422/facebook-personal-data-deletion-how-to-cambridge-analytica-privacy-scandal-trump-campaign

How to use Facebook while giving it the minimum amount of personal data The Cambridge Analytica revelations illustrate why we can’t trust Facebook to police its own platform

One of the best ways to empower ourselves as citizens is to keep track of what our elected officials are doing. These step-by-step instructions from the Library of Congress show you how to locate the bills and amendments that your elected officials are sponsoring.

How to Locate the Bills and Amendments a Member of Congress has Sponsored or Cosponsored in Congress.gov | In Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of Congress

Read more about celebrating Women's History Month with the National Park Service.

Women’s History - Telling All Americans' Stories (U.S. National Park Service) "I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do something I can do" - Helen Keller

MCNY Library updated their business hours.

March is Women's History Month and today is International Women's Day! https://www.internationalwomensday.com/
The New York Times is highlighting Women we Overlooked: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/obituaries/overlooked.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
And in the Library we are celebrating with two concurrent displays. MeToo focuses on labor, sexual harassment, and abuse and the intersection of power, abuse and gender.
Intersectional Feminisms highlights the interlocking identities and the rich history of feminism including women of color feminism, activism, and the long struggle for social justice.

International Women's Day 2018 International Women's Day (IWD) is March 8 so celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women

An interesting post about gender inequity in Children's Lit.

Gender Inequity: Caldecott by the numbers. #KidlitWomen Photo by Rosie Kerr on Unsplash When the industry you love doesn’t love your gender back: Caldecott Award by the numbers by Christine Taylor-Butler Starting March 1st, we’re celebrating Women’s His…

Did you know that March 3rd - March 10th is NYC Open Data Week! https://www.open-data.nyc/
Free panels, workshops, tours and gatherings throughout the city focused on finding, creating, analyzing data about our city. Learn about accessing information on your community, on school bullying, housing and more!

NYC Open Data Week – Events for all New Yorkers

Our Race, Racism and Education Panel yesterday was fantastic. Thank you to everyone who joined the passionate and interesting conversation and thank you to our panelists! Folks around here really are pretty brilliant and inspiring. It was a dynamic and thoughtful and wide ranging conversation about racism, inequality, and what we at MCNY can and have done to make a difference.

Come join us in the Bronx on Monday, Feb 26th at 4:30 pm where we will be showing "Tell Them We are Rising," a brand new documentary about America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). There will be snacks and a discussion afterward.

Tell Them We Are Rising | History & Impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities | Independent Lens | PBS Tell Them We Are Rising explores pivotal role historically black colleges & universities (HBCUs) have played over 150 years in American history and identity

Going to see Black Panther this weekend? Want to learn more about Black Panther's graphic novel history? The New York Public Library has a guide for where to start, and we have several of these suggestions available at our libraries in Manhattan and the Bronx!

A Black Panther Primer We’re obsessed with Black Panther. So, we’ve come up with some book selections for every kind of Black Panther fan, from the movie-goers who’ve never read the comics to the long-time completists.

"Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was the first African American woman in Congress (1968) and the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president of the United States from one of the two major political parties (1972)."

Shirley Chisholm Shirley Chisholm 1924-2005 Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was the first African American woman in Congress (1968) and the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president of the United States from one of the two major political parties (1972). Her motto and title of her autobio...

Wake up Your Writing and Rocket Your Research! The Library and the Office of Academic Support is teaming up to offer a workshop designed to introduce you to the basics of the research and writing process and using APA citation. It's just a beginning but it's a great way to get started and to meet fellow students, and the librarians and writing specialists who will serve as your personal learning partners for as long as you are at MCNY! Our first session is in Manhattan, 5 pm on this Thursday! 2/15 (Learning Commons Room 739)

PBS has gathered some interesting and little know facts in as part of their African American History Month celebration. http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/10-black-history-little-known-facts/ #.WoMWYHxJnIU

10 Little Known Black History Facts | PBS

Read more about the Harlem Hellfighters.

“And They Thought We Couldn’t Fight:”* Remembering the Nine Soldiers in a World War I Photograph Today’s Blog is written by Barbara Lewis Burger, a retired National Archives Still Picture Senior Archivist The above photograph of nine World War I soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment is one o…

From : "Learn about Maurice Sorrell, the award-winning photographer who broke the race barrier in the White House News Photographers Association during JFK's presidency: http://bit.ly/2BdaV3x "

Spotlight on Maurice Sorrell, Photographer – ARCHIVALLY SPEAKING: An Inside Look at the JFK Library Archives

Join us for a rich line up of programing for African American History Month! We are exploring the intersession of education, ethnicity and racism in America

Documentary Films in the Bronx! (2/20 and 2/26)
A panel discussion in Manhattan! (2/27)
And displays at both campuses!

More information to come!

The Bowery Boys published a podcast about the Underground Railroad in NYC and Plymouth Church, one of the stations on the Underground Railroad. I highly recommend you give this episode a listen.

New York City and the Underground Railroad: Escaping to freedom through a hostile city - The Bowery Boys: New York City History PODCAST For thousands of people escaping the bonds of slavery in the South, the journey to freedom wound its way

"American Libraries spoke with five leading African-American librarians about their careers, the changes they have witnessed over the decades, and the current issues in librarianship."

Blazing Trails | American Libraries Magazine American Libraries spoke with five leading African-American librarians about their careers, the changes they have witnessed over the decades, and the current issues in librarianship.

Social Media is complicated. This is an interesting article about the role of social media in democracy: https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21730871-facebook-google-and-twitter-were-supposed-save-politics-good-information-drove-out

Do social media threaten democracy? Facebook, Google and Twitter were supposed to save politics as good information drove out prejudice and falsehood. Something has gone very wrong